GLOSSARYbismilliih (Ar.): "In the name of God."
buyiitiit (Ar. pl.): outstanding or leading families.
catholicos (Gr): the title of the ecclesiastical head of the Christian
Church in the Sasanian empire, then of the Nestorian Church
from the sixth century onward.
chaldtotii (Syr.): "Chaldaean" astrology.
dabtrbadh (N.P.), diptrpat (M.P.): the Sasanian chief of scribes, trans-
lated into Arabic as ra'is al-kuttiib.
dahr (M.P.?): time as fate, eternity, probably a loanword in Arabic
from dagr (M.P.), "long" as in dagr-xwatiiy (M.P.), "eternal."
daqal (A.): a kind of low quality date palm native to Iraq, a loanword
in Arabic from daqlii (A.). Its name appears to be related to the
local name for the Tigris river: Dijla, Deqel, Deqla.
diir al-imiira (Ar.): "house of government," the Islamic administrative
compound in cities such as Basra and Kufa. The buildings included
the governor's residence, prison, and treasury and housed the
administrative departments.
diir ar-rizq (Ar.!M.P.): "house of provisions," a military depot estab-
lished to supply the Muslim army. Rizq is a loanword in Arabic
from roziq (M.P.), "daily" bread, sustenance.
dastkart (M.P.), dastgerd (N.P.): a landed estate, often with a fortified
mansion. It is a loanword in Aramaic as dastakert and in Arabic
as daskarat. The Arabic broken plural dasiikir is used for frontier
posts as the equivalent of masiili~ (Ar.).
dastwar or dastavar (M.P.), dastiir (N.P.): true religious doctrine,
regulations; an authority, religious expert.
dehkiin or dahigiin (M.P., pI. dehkiiniin), dihqiin (N.P.): villager, land-
lord, a member of the local class of Persian landlords in Iraq who
administered subdistricts. The Syriac plural is dahqiine; the Arabic
plural is dahiiqtn.
dev (M.P., N.P.): "demon."
dhimmt (Ar.): a "protected" non-Muslim under Muslim rule.
dhirii< (Ar.): a cubit varying from 54 cm. to 66.5 cm.
dihqiin: see dehkiin.
d,n (Ar.): "judgment," religion, cognate with Syriac denii and denotii,
which also mean judgment.
dtniir (L.): a gold coin, a loanword in Arabic from denarius (L.) via
denarion (Gr.).
dirham (Gr.): a silver coin, from drachma (Gr.), called a ziizii in Syriac.